City officials have obtained a restraining order against longtime critic Seth Brigham that prevents him from entering the Boulder Municipal Building and from having any contact, including email, with City Council members.

Brigham, a frequent speaker at council meetings, has a reputation for unrestrained rhetoric and political gestures. The city ended up paying him $10,000 in 2010 to avoid a civil rights lawsuit over his arrest at a council meeting. He had stripped to his boxers and refused to leave the podium during an open comment period after making highly critical comments about several council members.

The temporary restraining order was granted Thursday afternoon by Boulder County Judge Norma Sierra. A hearing on whether the restraining order will be made permanent is scheduled for May 15.

The restraining order names every City Council member, as well as City Manager Jane Brautigam, City Clerk Alisa Lewis and city spokesman Patrick von Keyserling. Brigham is not allowed to have any contact with any of the named people, including by email. That also means he cannot send email to the main City Council email.

Boulder spokeswoman Sarah Huntley said the decision to seek a restraining order was not taken lightly and was not based on the political content of Brigham's emails or comments.

Huntley said the city consulted with an expert on workplace violence, who felt the intensity and frequency of Brigham's emails indicated a possible obsession that can be an indicator of threat or pending violence.

"Access to elected and city officials is one of our organization's core values, but safety is a value, too," Huntley said. "We have a responsibility to do all we can to keep individuals safe and create an environment that is free from violence or fear."

Huntley said there have been other instances of people being barred from public buildings, though she wasn't sure if anyone has ever been barred from contacting elected officials before.

In court documents, city attorneys cited a single day in April during which Brigham sent 16 emails to council members detailing personal information about Councilwoman K.C. Becker, her investments, her relationships and her political contributions. Brigham sent three more emails the next day.

"The number and personal nature of these emails are particularly troubling," the restraining order application says.

The request does not allege that Brigham actually threatened Becker. However, John Nicoletti, an expert in workplace violence who has written about violence prevention, "expressed his opinion that Mr. Brigham presented a risk to the safety of the council members and staff employed by the City of Boulder."

The restraining order application also cites a confrontation at a Sister City dinner before a council meeting April 17. Brigham said "Heil Hitler" to the council members, gave a one-armed Nazi-style salute and asked, "What kind of fascist meeting is this?"

The city request says Brigham swore at several officials and council members and put his hand on Councilman George Karakehian. Brigham does not dispute that he said "Heil Hitler," but he says Karakehian jabbed him hard in the shoulder first.

Brigham said he is "outraged" at the restraining order, and he's not a threat.

"It might be threatening to a person who feels like their wealth and connections are being exposed," he said of the emails. "I do this a lot. I've done it before. I investigate all the facts, and I never get any response, so I keep sending them.

"This is normal behavior for me," he added. "I send thousands of emails. I comment on just about every issue."

Brigham has bipolar disorder and lives on disability payments. He is under a doctor's care and takes medication for his condition, he said, but he worries about his ability to pay a lawyer to fight the restraining order. He also said having to fight the city on this issue could make him more depressed.

Brigham said Nicoletti has no context within which to judge his behavior.

"Some guy who has never spoken to me wants to make outrageous accusations that someone is a danger because they go over the time limit at public comment," he said.

Brigham said he feels persecuted by the city. In addition to his arrest at the 2010 council meeting, Brigham was arrested last year on suspicion of obstructing a police officer. He confronted a police officer who was questioning homeless people on the Boulder Creek Path because he felt she was harassing them. The city put the prosecution on hold under a deal with Brigham that would allow prosecutors to bring the charges back if he was arrested under similar circumstances within a year.

The restraining order says Brigham cannot be within 50 yards of the Boulder Municipal Building at Broadway and Canyon Boulevard. Because so many other Boulder institutions -- from the farmers market to the public library -- are close to the municipal building, Brigham said he is worried he'll end up in violation just by going about his normal activity.

"Then they'll say I can't even comply with the restraining order," he said.

Huntley said the city is open to discussing other ways for Brigham to participate in the public process, but officials felt they had to err on the side of safety.

"It's not the fact that he's raising questions about council members," she said. "It's the way he's going about it and the very personalized nature of the emails. No one with the city wants to be in the position of learning too late that we underestimated the potential consequences of Mr. Brigham's behavior and failed to take the appropriate steps to address them."

David Lane, the prominent Denver defense attorney who represented Brigham in his previous civil rights claim, said he would represent him again, though another attorney from his firm will be at the hearing later this month.

"Unlike Seth, who has no history of violence, the city has a history of violating Seth's First Amendment rights," Lane said. "They have to prove to a judge that he has threatened violence, not that he's inconvenient and annoying. It's not illegal to be inconvenient and annoying."

Judd Golden of the Boulder County chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, which does not and has not represented Brigham, said the information available doesn't appear to show Brigham is a threat. The City Council has adopted rules of decorum for public meetings that seem to be sufficient for dealing with outbursts or rude behavior.

"Limiting a person from petitioning the government for redress of grievances by all manner and means appears to be a violation of the First Amendment," Golden said. "No threats or violent conduct by Mr. Brigham appear to have been alleged by the city. Controversial and provocative speech by the public to elected officials is protected by the First Amendment."

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